Handle for screw-drivers or other tools



(No Model.)

L..M. DEVORE. HANDLE FOR SCREW DRIVERS OR OTHER TOOLS.

No. 591,913. Patented 001;. 19, 1897.

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LEVI'M. DEVORE, OF FREEPORT, ILLINOIS.

HANDLE FOR SCREW-DRIVERS OR OTHER TOOLS."

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 591,913, dated October 7- Application filedMarch 18 1897.

T0. aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEVI M. DEVORE, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Freeport, in the county of Stevenson and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Handles for Screw-Drivers or other Tools, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in certain novel features which I have embodied in a handle devised with particular reference to use upon a double-pointed screw-driver bit or bladethat is to say, a bit that has a fiat point at each end adapted for application to a screw-head.

The nature of the improvements is such as to adapt them to use upon a great many other tools of various kinds, which will readily suggest themselves when the essential features of the invention are fully understood.

The object of the invention is to produce a handle that may be readily applied to a toolblade or bit and which when applied thereto may be firm and secure thereon in such use as the nature of the tool permits.

The invention is valuable as applied to permanent handles or those which are intended to remain upon the tools when once applied thereto, but in the particular use for which it was devised it has the great advantage of enabling a handle to be readily removed and replaced, making it possible to reverse the ends of the screw-driver in a moment and with the greatest ease.

The drawings presented show four figures illustrating my invention as applied to a screw-driver.

Figure 1 is a View showing the fiat side of the handle with the blade firmly secured therein. Fig. 2 is a median longitudinal section in a plane perpendicular to that of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a median section parallel to the plane of Fig. 1, showing the blade inserted only part way in the handle; and Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the handle showing the end opposite the blade.

Referring to the drawings, a two-ended screw-driver blade or hit is seen at A, having a rounded shank a. Upon this bit is a handle B, adapted to the'bit and showing the preferred form of my invention when applied to this particular tool. Said preferred form will be described specifically and minutely, with- Serial No. 628,184. (No model.)

out, however, any intention of thereby confining the invention to'the specific form herein shown. This handle is made up of two parts I) I), symmetrical in general contour upon opposite sides of the plane of their meeting edges. Each member is hollow upon the inside and shaped on the outside to the form of 'the half of an ordinary screw-driver handle.

The two members have certain openings in their sides which are not essential tomy invention, broadly considered. Each member has within the pointed end a tapered socket b smallest at the extremeend and increasing in size therefrom. The extreme ends are of the right size to embrace the shank of the blade when inserted and fit closely upon the same.

The tapering of the sockets is to accommodate the flat portions of the blade, which are wider than the shank. This is clearly shown in Fig. 3, where the blade is shown resting in one of the sockets and withdrawn from the handle as far as possible without separating the two parts of the latter.

\Vithin thehandle are two opposing bridges or yokes 19 6 extending inward from each member beyond the median plane and wide enough to receive the flat ends of the screwdriver. These yokes are arranged adjacent to each other and overlap so that each may engage the blade upon the side opposite from the member of whichsaid yoke is a part. The blades of the bit are wedge shaped like the ordinary screw-driver bit, and are therefore adapted to wedge apart the inner sides of the yokes and draw. the two members together.

The member I) has in its edge a series of notches 5 arranged one at the large end of the handle and one upon each side thereof, and the member I) has lugs b correspondingly arranged and adapted to enter the notches. These notches,-in connection with the sockets in the small end of the handle and the shank of the bit fitting therein, prevent movement of one member upon the other in the plane of the joint between them. The small end of the handle is held against lateral movement of either member by the shank.

The large ends of the two members are held against lateral movement one with respect to the other by the lug and socket upon their respective ends, and the two memberscannot move longitudinally one upon the other because of the lugs and sockets on the sides;

To apply the handle to the blade or bit, the latter is first placed in one of the members, as seen in Fig. 3. The other member is then laid upon the same in the properposition, which brings the yoke upon the latter member into the position shown in said Fig. 3. All that now remains is to crowd the bit into the handle,wedging the tapered blade between the two yokes, and the handle is tightened up on the shank against any accidental displacement. The greater the pressure upon the handle the firmer it. holds, and it canbe removed only by a direct pull upon the shank, which never occurs in driving a screw.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination with a tool having a tapered portion of ahandle composed of two parts provided respectively with yokes adapted to embrace said tapered portion and be drawn inwardly thereby to clamp the two parts of the handle together upon the tool; substantially as described.

2. Ahandle for tapered tools consisting of two separable parts provided with means for preventing them from sliding one upon the other, each of said parts having a yoke adapted to embrace the tapered portion of the tool and be drawn inward thereby to clamp said parts together upon the tool; substantially as described.

3. A handle for tapered tools consisting of two members each of which has a socket adapted to coact with that upon the other to clamp the shank of the tool, and each of which has a yoke adapted to receive the tapered portion of the tool and be drawn inward by wedging the same between said yokes; sub stantially as described.

4. A handle for tapered tools consisting of two members provided with engaging portions adapted to prevent them from sliding one upon the other, said members forming between them a socket fitting the shank of the tool and each of said members having a yoke extending beyond the tapered portion of the tool and embracing the same whereby the two members of the handle may be se-, curely fastened together by wedging said tapered portion into the said yokes; substantially as described.

5. The combination with a two-ended screw- 5 5' driver bit havinga shank narrower than one of the blades of a handle consisting of two members fitting together to form a socket fitting said shank and flaring inwardly to accommodate the wider blade, each of said members having a yoke extending inward and adapted to receive one of the blades of the screw-driver and to be wedged inward by the same whereby either blade of the screw-driver may be laid in one of the members, the other member may be put in position thereon and the two members tightly clamped together by wedging said blade between the two sockets; substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, at Chicago, Cook county, and State of Illinois, this 12th day of March, A. D. 1897.

LEVI M. DEVORE.

Vitnesses:

CHAS. O. SHERVEY, R. O. BAILEY. 

